Chess Day in Alabama - Making All The Right Movesby Michael Ciamarra
The atrium of the
Brookwood Village Mall had an unusually large group of people gathered around
9am this past Saturday morning. Rows and rows of chess pieces were meticulously
set-up on their boards and a table full of splendid chess trophies, chess
medals, gift certificates were on display as one of Alabama's most respected
scholastic tournament director, Caesar Lawrence was busily at work on first
round pairings. Another table had a full range of US Chess Federation
promotional materials, sample issues of Chess
Life for Kids, chess handouts, chess tips and a large demo board that
featured the Chess Day challenge puzzle were all set to go. Chess Day in
Alabama went public!

Brookwood Village,
one of the busiest malls in Birmingham, Alabama was the venue for the first annual
Kids Helping Kids Chess Day Scholastic Tournament. This very high
people-traffic area was deliberately chosen as our tournament site so that
chess was visible and very real to the public. It worked as hundreds of
mall shoppers stopped to watch the scholastic players, some as young as five
and six years old playing with the intensity of seasoned masters! About a dozen
passerby's inquired about how to get chess programs started at their
schools! Many children who came across the event while walking through
the mall wanted to learn how to play. We ran out of promotional materials
long before the end of the end (note to self - need much more for next year!)
It was a chess public relations dream!

The Chess Day
tournament bottom line was to promote chess and was to benefit Alabama's
Children's Hospital. All the entry fees collected went to Children's
Hospital and Children's Harbor located in downtown Birmingham.

Children's Hospital
promoted the tournament through their Facebook page and the local media
mentioned the event. School chess clubs were encouraged to come out and
area libraries helped promote the event.

Before beginning his
third round game, John Lawrence, a 4th grade student at Advent
School in Birmingham, said, "I really like to help promote chess, play chess
and know I am helping kids who are in the hospital and couldn't be here. "

To attract rated
players and beginners, TD Caesar Lawrence organized a rated section and an
unrated section. Caesar quickly got into action with well-designed
Chess Day tournament fliers and collectively we networked with many area
schools.

Children's Hospital
and Brookwood Village's Books-A-Million store were sponsors of the event.
The whole event was done with no cost to us and the sponsors were very happy
to help promote chess. Colonial Properties donated the space and provided
tables and chairs.

US Chess Federation
certified scholastic coach David Kwong was on hand to give tips and go over
games with the players in post-mortems. Many parents volunteered to
help with set ups and some logistics. Being Chess Day even the
parents got into the spirit when on the side tables many games were being
played by parents and coaches.

So, for the day,
college football took a backseat in Alabama as Chess Day captured the
imagination of Birmingham's scholastic chess players and many new potential
chess enthusiasts. The State of Alabama Chess Day proclamation said it
all, "Alabama scholastic chess activities...builds lasting friendships..." A good
time was had by all!

The event featured 44
people and 22 teams for a four-round, G/75 event with a total prize fund of
$1,200.

GM Ben Finegold and
his son Spencer Finegold entered the tournament as the favorites and did not
disappoint with a combined score of 8/8 to bring home $500 and the championship
title. Their team, ironically named Two
Persons is Not Really a Team, made quick work of the opposition
including a round three trouncing of Masters Ron Luther and Bob Holliman.

Spencer Finegold's
4/4 score pushed him over 2000 for the first time ever, earning him the expert
title and an unofficial rating of 2009.

Expert Mark Ferber
continued his impressive string of tournament performances. Since winning the
reserve section of the Saint Louis Open in April as an unrated player, Ferber
has consistently demonstrated strong play and finished this tournament with a
score of 3/4 and an unofficial rating of 2136 after just 30 rated games. During
that span, Ferber has notched 22 wins, four losses and four draws.

This tournament, Ferber
formed a team with young Jason Zhou to compete for the U3600 prize. Jason
scored a nice upset with a round two draw against Holliman and a final score of
2.5/4. Ferber and Jason, The Innocent
Movers, took clear first in the U3600 division and $200 each.

There was four-way
tie for the U3000 prize between John Slattery, Sathya Anand, Aravinda Ganapathy
and Aadithya Palaniappan. Each took home $50. The U2400 section eneded in a
six-way tie giving each player $16.50: Nathan Phan, Clark Berry, James Elliott,
Gus Cappiello, Dan Thurber and Michael Kelly.

In Tucson, Arizona 9 Queens,
Bookmans and the Girls Scouts of Southern Arizona celebrated National Chess Day
at the 2nd Annual All Queens Day. Activities included free community chess
lessons, face-painting, a make your own chess crown arts and crafts station,
and ladies-only chess tournament for chess queens of all ages.

Participants in the tournament received prizes
including custom 9 Queens trophies and gift certificates from Bookmans.

Photo by Tamara McKinney

That same day in Philadelphia, 9 Queens partnered with
ASAP (After Schools Activities Partnerships) to host a 9 Queens Academy, in which WIM
Alisa Melekhina, WGM Jennifer Shahade and Masterminds coach Leteef Street gave
basic tips and played a competitive team game of "Chess Jeopardy."
The next Philly session is on Saturday, November 13th.Contact Windsor Jordan at
[email protected] or 215-545-2727 (ext 18) if you are interested in
attending.

The Weiss School in Palm Beach

The Weiss School celebrated NATIONAL CHESS DAY by hosting its
Third Annual Rated Scholastic Chess Tournament on Saturday, October 9,
2010. The Tournament was organized and directed by this writer, John Dockery,
President/Tournament Director of Palm Beach Gardens Chess Club. Since
this was a special occasion and to celebrate National Chess Day, Mr. Dockery
had 10 Trophies for each Division instead of the usual 5 Trophies.
There were a total of 57 children participating in the tournament
as well as several schools competing for Team Trophies. There were 75
trophies available to individual and team winners. Several schools
participated and top honors went to Elbridge Gale Elementary, The Weiss School,
Boca Raton Community High School, Freedom Shores Elementary, Equestrian Trails
Elementary and The Benjamin School.

Everyone had a great time including the parents. Thanks to
the Head of School Dr. Rosemary Daniels, Dr. Denise Spirou and Mrs. Ellyn Zarek
for all their help. Everything was very well organized and the children
and the parents enjoyed the event.

Our next Scholastic Tournament will be held at Palm Beach Day
Academy on Saturday, January 22, 2011 located at 1901 South Flagler Drive, West
Palm Beach, Florida 33401. For more information please call the
President/Tournament Director John Dockery at (561) 762-3377 or visit our
website at www.palmbeachchessclub.info. See
complete crosstables on the USCF MSA page.
National Chess Day in Utah by Damian Nash, Utah Open Chief TD

To celebrate National Chess Day, the Utah Chess Association sponsored the annual Utah Open tournament. It was the strongest field in Utah since the end of the era of GM Igor Ivanov. Two masters and two 2100 players topped the list. When top-rated Harold Stevens lost to his chess nemesis, Frank Flynn, it opened the field. Twelve-year-old Kayden Troff, also known as "Utah's Mozart of Chess," crossed the finish line first with a perfect 4-0 score plus one bye.

Kayden narrowly missed the Utah Open title two years ago, at age ten, when he went into the final round a half point ahead of the field but lost a complicated last-round game on board one. After finally earning the monumental title of Utah Open Champion, Kayden learned he had been awarded the prestigious Schein-Friedman chess scholarship! It arrived just in time to help sponsor his trip to Greece next week where he will represent the United States in the World Youth Championships.

Steve Gordon took clear second place in the Open with four points and a wildly tactical final game. Brenda Ahlemann and Jamie Olsen-Mills drew in the final round to tie for the state women's title, while rising young star Davis Unruh earned the under 2000 prize and trophy. Michael Parsons secured the under 1800 prize and a place in the Utah Closed Championship tournament next month.

Aaron Case won the Under 1600 section, with Brad Tew and Jeff Evans close behind. The u1400, u1200 and u1000 trophies went to youngsters Andrew Roach, Clancey Black and Gatlin Black. Tournament newcomer Mitchell Sailsbery won the Under 800 section with a convincing 7-0, with Tommy Jones taking second place. The Utah Open High School Champion is tournament veteran Eliza McIntosh. Harrison Unruh earned the Junior High title and Sam Mason took home the Elementary trophy.

UCA President Grant Hodson played skittles games with several of Utah's young stars at this event, and reports that their strategic and tactical skills are far above their current ratings. On National Chess Day, he affirms that the future of chess in Utah is brighter than ever.
This is CLO's final National Chess Day wrap-up but look for more on NCD in an upcoming issue of Chess Life Magazine, and get ready for NCD 2011, just over 360 days away :)